224 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



agricultural colleges and schools and the county agents 

 employed by the farm bureaus, as they go in and out 

 among the farmers, have won their respect and regard 

 in performing for the farmers a very real service. 

 Thus far, however, the use of the agricultural specialist 

 is found chiefly in the field of production, but he must 

 be utilized also in helping to solve the great problems of 

 distribution of food and of country life. It is unfor- 

 tunate that during the war the fairly large, well-trained, 

 clear-headed group of agricultural economists in this 

 country has not been utilized in connection with the 

 food supply program to anything like the extent that 

 they should have been. We still have a long way to go 

 in making democracy efficient. The farmers, however, 

 are more and more willing to follow the advice of the 

 agricultural specialists. 



Will the farmer lose his strength as an individual in 

 a more compact organization of agriculture? There is 

 danger, no doubt. Organization, it is clear, does tend 

 to submerge the individual, but only where organiza- 

 tion is faulty. True organization means the best pos- 

 sible utilization of all the factors that are available, and 

 of course the biggest possible man is a prime factor in 

 any enterprise. In other words, if organization is used 

 merely to get material and immediate results without 

 regard to what happens to the individuals concerned, 

 then it is faulty and bad. But true organization takes 

 a long look ahead and values the growth of a man more 

 than it values his product. 



Should farmers go into politics in order to aid de- 

 mocracy? Politics is really only a means to an end. 

 We assume the need of honest and efficient government, 

 but that is or should be merely a matter of good ma- 

 chinery. Laws and their administration deal funda- 



